Monthly Archives: March 2004

Madison firm wins Shanghai traffic monitoring deal

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John Schmid writes about Trafficcast’s agreement to create a traffic monitoring system in Shanghai:

“This is a great example of a Wisconsin-developed technology and a Wisconsin-developed business that has found a significant market in China,” Doyle said in an interview in Shanghai.
Much of the hiring will take place in China. In Shanghai, there will be more than 100 employees eventually, adding to the 35 in the United States, Li said. Without giving the company’s annual revenue, she predicts China will catch up to U.S. sales within two to three years.

It’s always great to read about Madison firms in the Milwaukee paper first….

Andreessen on America’s Strengths

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Optimism is everything
Amidst much discussion on outsourcing, Wisconsin native (and Netscape co-founder) Marc Andreessen writes about America’s economic & cultural strengths:

  • Higher education: — we’re the best in the world; students come from every other country on the planet to study in our colleges and universities.
  • Entrepreneurialism throughout the system — we continue to be the most entrepreneurial economy on the planet (more than China, more than India, certainly more than Japan, … and way more than Europe).
  • Risk-friendly culture (this is hugely important) – this is not true across all states – Wisconsin needs to encourage more risk taking – state subsidies are not the answer
  • Culture that loves new things — American obsession with the latest and greatest — often made fun of but hugely valuable.

more via John Robb….

Richard Clarke in the news

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Former White House Security Czar Richard Clarke was evidently on 60 minutes Sunday recently talking about terrorism & politics (he also has a new book on the way…). Interestingly, Clarke was part of a federal government effort to cozy up to convicted monopolist microsoft regarding an initiative to “bifurcate” the internet..

I believe we must decide to bifurcate cyberspace into the current area of anonymity on one side and a secure zone for critical infrastructure on the other

Recall also that the Department of Homeland Security chose Microsoft as it’s exclusive supplier of desktop and server software. (DHS chooses the least secure product…)
From John Robb…

Grandparent Greeters

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Kathy Walsh Nufer writes about Hilbert High School’s Grandparents Greeters Day:

Meet Rita Mathes and Jeanne Gast, who stationed themselves in the high school?s front hall on St. Patrick?s Day with a giant box of cookies.
?Top of the mornin? to you, help yourself,? Mathes wished students going her way.
?You, too, as soon as I can see,? responded a bleary-eyed boy as he shuffled in, fresh from the shower.
?They?re so polite,? said Gast, taking pride in their manners as if all the students were her own. This grandparent of 23 knows most kids in town. ?We grew them up from pups, most of ?em,? she said.

Very nice high school web site, btw, including panoramic Quicktime VR Tours…

Thinking different about opening arteries

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Gina Kolata writes about some different thinking with respect to opening arteries (using stents & bypass surgery) vis a vis heart attack risks:

But the new model of heart disease shows that the vast majority of heart attacks do not originate with obstructions that narrow arteries.
Instead, recent and continuing studies show that a more powerful way to prevent heart attacks in patients at high risk is to adhere rigorously to what can seem like boring old advice ? giving up smoking, for example, and taking drugs to get blood pressure under control, drive cholesterol levels down and prevent blood clotting.
Researchers estimate that just one of those tactics, lowering cholesterol to what guidelines suggest, can reduce the risk of heart attack by a third but is followed by only 20 percent of heart patients.

Biotech, Wisconsin’s Economic Savior? – an update

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Judy Newman has a timely article on the state of Madison’s biotech industry:

The biotech hub took a big hit last week with the news that PowderJect Vaccines in Middleton will close, wiping out the jobs of 88 employees, many of them highly educated, specialized scientists and technologists. And it’s not the only local biotech that has pared its staff or even disappeared in recent years. <

There are several issues here:

  • The biggest issue: Risk taking, attitude (compare to California, Colorado, Oregon & Washington)
  • Money (California’s biotech money is a completely different world)
  • Again, we need more people that are willing to take a risk (and fail in some cases)
  • I doubt that additional state backed funding schemes will make any difference at all…